Lord Drayson: Under the new Pay As You Dine (PAYD) project, currently being introduced across the UK, the provision of catering, leisure and retail facilities for non-operational bases and barracks is being consolidated and let under regionally-based "super multi-activity contracts" and private finance initiatives. Under these arrangements, the contractor is responsible for the provision of food for consumption to the standards laid down in the particular regional contract. Where PAYD has not yet come into effect, individual bases and barracks use the MoD's single global food supply contract with Purple Foodservice Solutions for their food requirements.

Lord Davies of Oldham: As part of the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) process the British Library has provided its sponsoring department with detailed evidence of the impact that a cut could have on their services. I cannot anticipate the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review at this stage, either for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as a whole or for the British Library specifically. I can, however, say that the Government are proud of the British Library's status as a world class research library and will continue to work with the British Library board and executive into the CSR period to effectively protect this status.

Lord Davies of Oldham: Responsibility for the setting of retirement ages for staff below the senior Civil Service is delegated to individual departments under the Civil Service (Management Functions) Act 1992. This delegation allows departments to adopt different retirement ages or a policy of not relying on the national default retirement age depending on their own business needs. Retirement age for members of the senior Civil Service is not delegated to departments to decide on and is 65.

Lord Davies of Oldham: Responsibility for the setting of policies and practices for dealing with poor performance for staff below the senior Civil Service is delegated to individual departments and agencies under the Civil Service (Management Functions) Act 1992.
	The Civil Service Management Code, under which this delegation is given, requires departments and agencies to have in place performance review systems and reporting arrangements which are capable of identifying performance which is unsatisfactory or unacceptable. The performance of all members of the senior Civil Service is also for individual departments and agencies to manage within a central framework determined by the Cabinet Office which includes provisions for managing poor performance.
	Where ongoing unsatisfactory performance is identified, whatever the grade of the individual, departments and agencies are required to have procedures in place that should either result in a return to satisfactory performance or an exit from the service. The individual is informed of the areas were performance falls below the expected standards, what support they will receive to assist them to improve and the timeframe in which they will need to do so. Where the required level of improvement is not forthcoming, dismissal is the ultimate sanction.

Lord Rooker: There are less than 500 eligible claims to the 2005 single payment scheme where a final payment is outstanding. A proportion of that number is held pending the resolution of issues such as probate. The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is also checking approximately 20,000 2005 cases, which include those involving queries raised by farmers, to establish whether the correct payment has been made. For the 2006 scheme year, RPA continues to process claims. A small number of payments have been made and no query has yet been raised.

Lord Rooker: The allocation of direct costs for administering the single payment scheme (SPS) for 2005 to 31 December 2006 amounted to £104 million. This includes the costs of scheme processing but excludes apportioned overheads. At the end of 2006, there were circa 2,000 full-time equivalent staff employed to administer the SPS. Of these, 47 per cent were permanent, fixed term or casual employees. The remaining 53 per cent were temporary workers engaged mainly through employment agencies.

Lord Falconer of Thoroton: My responsibilities as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs cover constitutional issues generally, including devolution; data protection; freedom of information; human rights; electoral law; custody and exercise of the Great Seal; judicial appointments and all matters related to the judiciary and lay magistracy; procedural rules, appointments to rule committees/advisory councils, fees as applicable in criminal justice, civil justice, family justice and administrative justice; HM Court Services; the Tribunals Service; the Land Registry; the Northern Ireland Court Service; the Law Commission; public records; the National Archives; the Crown dependencies; legal aid; regulation of the legal professions.

Lord Goldsmith: It is normal practice to brief counsel who conducted the original trial to represent the Crown at any subsequent appeal hearing, unless it is clear from the grounds of appeal that the conduct of prosecution counsel was an issue. In this case the appeal was on two grounds: the first, based on new evidence about the complainant, which was conceded by the Crown; the second, based on non-disclosure by the Crown, which was not conceded by the Crown, and was not considered by the court.
	In view of the fact that counsel's judgment was in question and that this could have led to a conflict of interest, he should not have continued to be instructed on the appeal and new counsel should have been appointed by the Crown for the Appeal. CPS guidance on the appointment of counsel in appeals referred by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) to the Court of Appeal has been issued.

Lord Goldsmith: The case was properly reviewed by the Crown prosecutor who sought and obtained advice regarding disclosure from senior counsel conducting the trial. There are no grounds for disciplinary action against any individual. The Court of Appeal judgment has been brought to the attention of all Crown prosecutors.

Lord Davies of Oldham: The information requested fall within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	Letter to Lord Vinson from the National Statistician, dated January 2007.
	The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking about the United Kingdom (UK) net contribution to European Union institutions and the UK deficit on trade in goods, services and income with the European Union. I am replying in her absence. (HL 1239)
	I have assumed that net contributions to the EU are equivalent to UK official transactions with European Union institutions. These, as included in the National Accounts, can be found in table 9.9 of the UK's Balance of Payments Pink Book (p. 149 of the 2006 edition). www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=1140&Pos=1&ColRank=1&Rank=272
	However, capital transfers are included in the total net contribution to the EU, outlined in the table detailed above, and I have assumed that these should be subtracted to calculate the net contribution on a current account basis. These capital transfers are UK receipts relating to the Agricultural Guarantee Fund, the European Regional Development Fund and other capital transfers from EU institutions. Data for 1997 to 2005 are available in table 9.9 of last year's Pink Book.
	Over the period 1997-2005 inclusive, the cumulative United Kingdom net contribution to European Union institutions, as I have defined above, is £32.6 billion.
	Data for the United Kingdom's goods, services and income balances with European Union member states can be found in Pink Book tables 9.4, 9.5 and 9.6 respectively (pages 135, 139 and 143 in the 2006 Pink Book). Please note that although the 10 accession countries joined the EU in 2001, I have calculated the cumulative deficits below with the 25 countries that were European Union member states in 2006. Please also note that prior to 1999, data are not available for some of the accession countries; consequently I have only calculated the cumulative deficits from 1999 onwards.
	Over the period 1999 to 2005 inclusive, the cumulative deficit on trade in goods, services and income with the EU 25 member states, excluding those with EU institutions and the European Central Bank, is £80.1 billion. For the current account as a whole, that is additionally including current transfers, the cumulative deficit is £80.7 billion.

Baroness Andrews: Changes in the amounts of derelict land and buildings in a region are the result of the development of some sites and by new sites coming into scope. It is also the case that estimates for the early years of the survey are less reliable than those from more recent years because they were based on responses from fewer local authorities, as shown in the table below. An allowance is made for missing data but this is necessarily approximate.
	
		
			 Proportions of Local Authorities Making a Return to the National Land Use Database of Previously-Developed Land. (per cent) 
			  East of England South-west England 
			 2001 50 49 63 
			 2002 73 76 80 
			 2003 92 84 85 
			 2004 94 96 94